Elizabeth Reading
Elizabeth Reading (1929-2024) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2005 to 2010, succeeding Kathleen Urban and preceding Harold Uxbridge. She was the first UKIP MP to serve as Prime Minister, and she helped to fight a depression which had been caused by the Conservative Party's abolition of several important taxes. Reading was a committed reformist; while she was an opponent of socialism, she was also a republican who twice attempted to abolish the monarchy, she implemented environmentalist policies, she supported tax increases to pay for social programs, she supported NATO, compulsory military service, and nuclear power, and she supported expanding Parliament and longer terms (without term limits). She was 81 when she decided to stand down as party leader in 2010, ceding power to Harold Uxbridge. In 2015, it was Reading, the veteran elder stateswoman, who wrote the law which transformed the United Kingdom from a parliamentary system into a directly-relected republic. She gave a new conservative-liberal face to UKIP as a reformist, republican, populist party, and she came to disagree with the party's policies on elder care, leading to her defection to the Lib Dems in 2019, surprising the country. In 2023, she switched allegiance again, this time to the Labour Party. Biography Elizabeth Reading was born in Stanmore, England in 1929, and she worked as a nurse for several decades. She became disillusioned with the NHS due to its recruitment of several South Asian doctors, especially after she was passed over for promotions. During the 1990s, she decided to dedicate herself to politics as a member of the Eurosceptic and right-wing populist UKIP party, opposing multiculturalism and internationalism. In 2000, she was elected MP for Edgware and Leader of UKIP, and she supported a Lib Dem government rather than let the Labour Party rule. Reading became known as a political kingmaker as leader of UKIP, which was the only party to consistently increase its parliamentary representation at each election. Reading was unafraid to launch months-long protests against the government if it pursued policies contrary to UKIP and its constituents' interests, the most notable being the 2004 protests against Prime Minister Kathleen Urban's Conservative Party government for abolishing council estates. Taking advantage of working-class fury, Reading and her party won 8 seats in the House of Commons, becoming the largest party in Parliament, ahead of the Conservatives, Lib Dems, and Labour by 2 seats each and ahead of the SNP by 4 seats. Reading and her party hailed their victory as a working-class triumph, but, when Parliament voted to confirm the next Prime Minister, Reading lost to Urban by a vote of 16-12, narrowly keeping her from government. At the start of 2005, Reading responded with a new wave of protests against Urban's government to protest the inability to form a government. An economic depression helped UKIP gain more support, and, in the mid-2005 elections, UKIP won 29.41% of the vote and 9 seats, their best ever results; UKIP was now the largest party in Parliament, 3 seats ahead of the Lib Dems and Labour each. Reading was then elected Prime Minister in a vote of 14-11, backed by most of the Conservatives and the UKIP majority. Premiership Reading presided over a government which heavily relied on her own party's majority in Parliament, and she decided to prioritize taking on the country's depression. She kept the ambulance service and child benefit in place (doing so only after the decision was tied 13-13), shot down a national parks bill in order to avoid additional expenditures, and defeated a gun control bill in a vote of 20-4. In Week 40 of 2005, she abolished the European Union in a vote of 21-4 (with 2 abstentions), receiving widespread support from Parliament and achieving one of her party's biggest goals. This led to the country beginning to make money again, and UKIP donated some of its own budget to help the country's economy. She also approved the protection of plant varieties, kept retirement homes, and defeated an arts subsidies bill by a margin of 19-6, but she failed to protect the pollution tax, which was abolished in a vote of 18-8. In early 2006, UKIP donated the entirety of their budget to save the country from debt, hoping to capitalize off of their donation in terms of increasing their support among voters. The government failed in its attempt to pass a stamp duty in a 12-12 tie, but it managed to save government-provided primary education. In early 2006, in another election, UKIP rose to ten seats in Parliament; UKIP won 33.17% of the vote, while the Lib Dems won 19.08% of the vote (6 seats), Labour won 18.57% (6 seats), the Conservatives won 17.38% (5 seats), and the SNP won 11.79% (3 seats). Reading went on to win another term as Prime Minister in a margin of 17-11, defeating Ernest Oliver. During her second term, Reading sought to preserve the existing system, as the economy was slowly recovering, and the economy had reached positive levels in the weeks following her party's donations. Parliament voted 22-1 to keep universal healthcare, and it also voted down party voting by a margin of 17-7. The government also voted down prime ministerial term limits by a margin of 16-12, allowed for a government scholarship to pass through Parliament, voted down an election threshold bill, failed to pass a press freedom law (which had 14 votes in favor and 8 against, but lacked the 5 abstentionist votes needed to have a clear majority), passed a pollution tax with a 14-6 margin, kept prostitution legal, protected child benefit programs, and narrowly failed to abolish the monarchy after a 14-11 vote (in favor of abolition, but lacking the necessary majority). The last vote damaged UKIP's credibility and contributed to its slight loss of support, as it won just 29.21% of the vote and 9 seats, while the Lib Dems and Labour each won 6 seats, the Tories won 5, and the SNP won 4, each of the other parties increasing their share of the votes. The government succeeded in saving the robbery penalty, and, a week later, the last week of 2006, the government remained in power by a margin of 16-12, the first government since 2000 to win a third consecutive term. Reading's third term was focused on restoring UKIP's popularity, as UKIP was unable to promote itself in the runup to the election due to several laws and polls preoccupying the party. In the first week of January 2007, UKIP narrowly failed in its backing for a stamp duty in a vote of 14-13, but it succeeded in keeping plant varieties protected. The party was further weakened by the defection of longtime UKIP MP Thomas Uther to the SNP, but it successfully funded military bases over stadia. The government decided to approve the creation of national parks in a vote of 18-10, hoping to increase happiness in the country. Parliament also voted to overturn the public smoking ban 15-13, another defeat for Reading's government. Parliament's most egregious act of rebellion was abolishing the income tax in a vote of 13-12, leading to fears of a recession. A terrorist attack in the 18th week of 2007 demoralized the country; the next day, Parliament returned to agreeability when it decided to save the bus transport service in a vote of 15-11. In order to curb the recession, the government abolished its national scholarship in a vote of 17-3, but it failed to abolish the unpopular citizen's vote law despite voting 14-8 in favor of abolishing it; again, its status as a constitutional law required a clear majority vote. The government succeeded in preserving government-funded primary education, but Parliament again rejected the stamp duty in a vote of 11-10. The government again succeeded in preserving plant varieties, and it narrowly succeeded in implementing highway tolls in a vote of 12-11 in order to curb the recession. The government was again harried when UKIP MP Florence Thomas defected to the Lib Dems. A week before the election, the government voted to keep the national ambulance service. On election week, UKIP maintained its 9 seats in Parliament while winning 29.82% of the vote, an increase from last time; in addition, the Lib Dems were left with 6 seats, Labour with 5, the Tories with 6, and the SNP with 4. A week after the election, UKIP narrowly approved the return of public housing in a vote of 11-10. After a premiership contest which resulted in a 13-13 tie between Reading and Oliver, Reading was able to continue with her government, despite presiding over a more competitive government than UKIP had been used to in past years. Reading's fourth government was backed by the majority of the Conservative Party and by the SNP, while it was opposed by the Lib Dems and Labour. Her government rejected the introduction of driving licenses, as it would cost the country more money; at the same time, Britain returned to being in debt. The government tacitly supported the abolition of national parks by abstaining from a one-sided vote; national parks were abolished in a vote of 12-6, decreasing the national expenditure and stabilizing the economy. The government then voted to keep retirement homes, and, in a vote of 20-7, the government voted to approve an income tax to reverse the economic downturn. The government successfully defeated a Lib Dem-sponsored protest prohibition bill by a margin of 19-9, and it abstained from a vote on child benefit programs, which were abolished by a vote of 13-6. UKIP again donated much of its treasury to return the country to economic stability and supported the citizen's voting age, but they failed to keep the school bus tax in place, as it was abolished in the last week of 2007 in a vote of 14-13. The government then approved the return of national parks in a vote of 17-12, and it also narrowly failed to approve the car tax in a vote of 15-13. The government was able to re-implement child benefit programs in a vote of 15-8. In the 16th week of 2008, the next general election saw UKIP win 32.54% of the vote and 10 seats in Parliament; the Lib Dems won 18.95% and 6 seats, the Tories won 18.72% and 5 seats, Labour won 16.86% and 5 seats, and the SNP won 12.94% and 4 seats. Reading was then re-elected Prime Minister by a margin of 17-11, with the SNP and most Conservatives supporting her against Oliver. During her fifth term, Reading focused on maintaining the country's economic growth. She kept prostitution legal, approved mandatory military service, passed a school bus tax by a margin of 14-8 (with 5 abstentions), declined a protest prohibition bill in a vote of 15-5, supported being an active part of the NATO alliance with a vote of 22-0, declined to pass prime minister term limits in a vote of 16-4, approved the building of a nuclear test site in a vote of 17-3, continued to protect plant varieties, narrowly failed to pass a stamp duty in a vote of 10-9, reimplemented the smoking ban by a margin of 13-8, approved sex education by a margin of 14-9, and supported the continuation of the housing tax by 12-11. In the penultimate week of 2008, the next general election was held, and it saw the Lib Dems, Conservatives, and Labour increase their popularity, while UKIP was reduced to 9 seats once again; the Tories picked up the seat which UKIP lost. Parliament narrowly voted to continue Reading's premiership in a vote of 14-11, electing her to a sixth term in office. At the start of her sixth term in early 2009, Reading successfully abolished the compulsory "citizen's vote" law by a margin of 24-0, but Parliament narrowly voted (12-10) to abolish the pollution tax, grounding economic growth to a halt. Parliament again voted to abolish the monarchy in a vote of 11-10 (with 4 abstentions), although it again lacked the clear majority to sign it into law. The government also failed to protect national parks, which were abolished in a vote of 11-9. UKIP then abstained from a vote on the agricultural subsidy, which was abolished in a vote of 11-4 (with 10 abstentions). UKIP then attempted to expand Parliament from 23 to 40 seats, but the measure narrowly failed by a margin of 13-10. The government then abstained from a vote on introducing drivers' licenses, and it failed by a vote of 11-6. UKIP then shot down a party funding law, narrowly kept the public smoking law, abstained from an arts subsidies bill which failed by 10-7, voted 12-12 to keep the ambulance service, declined prime ministerial term limits in a vote of 19-6, abstained from a car tax vote which failed by 16-1, kept gambling legal in a vote of 13-13, and approved the Olympic Games being held in London in a 16-6 vote. When the next election was held, UKIP won 31.09% of the vote, maintaining its 9 seats; meanwhile, the Lib Dems, Conservatives, and Labour, each won 6 seats, and the SNP won only 3 seats. In the ensuing leadership election, Reading won a seventh term with a 15-11 vote. Reading decided to devote her seventh term to continuing Britain's economic growth, modernization, and attempts at parliamentary and democratic reform. She abstained from a vote on creating a National Football League, a measure which passed 8-5. The government also kept the citizen's voting age, and it attempted to push elections up to every 55 weeks, failing with 14 votes in favor to 9 votes against; the government again lacked a majority. The government sought to reverse the effects of high spending by shutting down plans for an air pollution monitor, voting 19-3 against it. It failed to keep highway tolls in place, as Parliament voted 18-9 to abolish them, leading to economic downturn once again. Parliament again rebelled against the government by voting 14-13 to abolish legalized prostitution, cutting the national tax income. At the start of 2010, the UKIP government began to release attack ads against the left of politics, hoping to increase their majority at the upcoming general election so as to ensure that Parliament followed the government's programme. The government succeeded in declining a driver's license program, preventing more expenditure. The government then passed a pollution tax by a margin of 14-11 with the goal of curbing the economic downturn, which again left the country in debt. The country's debt grew worse when the government was forced to fix flood damage in the country, so the UKIP party donated much of its budget to help the economy recover. UKIP pulled a publicity stunt when it promised to raise the national budget and then used its own party funds to help the country recover, fulfilling its promise within a week. UKIP then abstained from a vote on the ambulance service, which was abolished in a vote of 11-6. Four weeks ahead of the election, Reading announced that she would not seek re-election as Prime Minister, instead making Uxbridge the party leader. UKIP then abstained from a vote on child benefit programs, which were abolished in a vote of 17-3. The government's last vote was to vote against protest prohibition laws in a vote of 24-5. The next week, UKIP won 30.67% of the vote, giving them 9 seats; the Lib Dems won 21.06% and 6 seats, Labour won 19.79% and 6 seats, the Conservatives won 18.4% and 6 seats, and the SNP won 10.07% and 3 seats. At the leadership election, Uxbridge won 18-11, and Reading stepped down as Prime Minister. Return to the Benches Reading returned to the Benches, where she proposed a successful highway toll bill which helped to curb the country's economic downturn. She also authorized the return of legal prostitution in a bid to help bring more tax revenue to the government, and she wrote a stamp duty tax which finally became law after an 11-10 vote, achieving one of her prime ministerial goals as an MP. She continued to advocate for her old policies from the benches, and, in 2015, she introduced the constitutional amendment which effectively ended the United Kingdom's parliamentary democracy and created a republic by making Prime Ministers directly elected by the people. She continued to write several key laws for UKIP for several years, but, at the age of 90, she came to support elderly people's causes. Dismayed by UKIP's vote against an organ donor program (which the party had done in order to offset and economic depression caused by President Ernest Oliver's economic liberal programs), Reading decided to switch to the Lib Dems, one of the first former Prime Ministers in British history to leave the party which they had once led. In 2023, she again switched parties to the Labour Party, which she supported more than the Lib Dems due to its anti-immigration policies and its support for elder care, both of which were important to her. She died in 2024 at the age of 95. Category:1929 births Category:British politicians Category:British Category:Politicians Category:Anglicans Category:Protestants Category:UKIP members Category:Liberal Democrats members Category:British liberals Category:Liberals Category:Labour Party members Category:Living people Category:2024 deaths Category:English